Downtown Falling

With the hoopla surrounding the highly
anticipated opening of the new City Creek shopping center on Main Street in downtown Salt Lake City on March 22, there are some troubling signs that things aren’t going very well in this city.

For example, scores of retailers have left The Gateway and Trolley Square, or have announced plans to leave, for greener pastures at City Creek. I’ve noticed that Trolley Square has done a very poor job of attracting new tenants—the place is devoid of any atmosphere and the beautiful marquee out front isn’t being fixed and maintained properly. And The Gateway isn’t too far behind.

That said, I cannot fathom the reason why City Creek will not be open on Sunday. Have you ever tried the Sunday brunch at the Cheesecake Factory? This is a really bad move by the LDS Church.

Also, why is UTA considering a move to curtail the free-fare zone for buses?

I was in Portland and Seattle for the Thanksgiving holiday and was amazed to find that you can buy heavy beer, malt-flavored beverages and wine in the grocery stores, if you can believe it! You might as well forget being able to buy a bottle of Pinot Noir at the new downtown Harmons. Any sensible urban dweller doesn’t want to have to drive to the nearest liquor outlet; they would much rather walk to one.

Fact is, downtown Salt Lake City just doesn’t have a sufficient population base, lacks the urban density and isn’t self-sustainable enough to make these shopping centers economically viable. City Creek doesn’t have anything to differentiate itself from the competition, aside from having a Macy’s and a Nordstrom. You can find all of that and much, much more at Fashion Place Mall in Murray.